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David Chase is set for a comeback to the small screen. The iconic mob drama creator is scripting Project MKUltra, a mini-series focusing on the CIA's covert Cold War period mind control program for HBO.

About the Series

This new venture, initially revealed by industry sources, marks Chase's initial TV project following the era-defining HBO mob drama. This intense narrative, inspired by John Lisle's non-fiction work "Project Mind Control", zeroes in on the notorious scientist, known as the "dark magician" who oversaw the MKUltra initiative, the CIA's clandestine hallucinogen experiments that tested psychedelic substances, hypnotic techniques, and torture on willing and unwilling subjects from 1953 until it was terminated in 1973.

The Experiments

The scientist directed such experiments in the interest of national security, to combat the perceived threat of Soviet and Chinese “brainwashing” techniques. He is also regarded as the accidental pioneer of the psychedelic movement, as he brought the drug to the CIA in the mid-20th century, in an attempt to investigate the possibilities of controlling the human mind. Certain participants were volunteers from the CIA, military officers and college students who had awareness of the purpose of the experiments. Additional subjects, however, were mental patients, incarcerated persons, substance abusers, and sex workers forced or deceived into substance administration that in some cases left permanent damage.

Creator's Background

David Chase earned five Emmys for the Sopranos, a intricate narrative about a New Jersey-based crime syndicate widely credited with starting the golden age of high-quality TV. After the series, featuring the deceased James Gandolfini, concluded in 2007, Chase has primarily concentrated on feature films. He authored, helmed, and produced the 2012 film "Not Fade Away". He also co-wrote and produced The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to The Sopranos featuring Michael Gandolfini, that premiered in 2021.

Return to Television

This comeback to television comes after he declared the period of ambitious television series in some ways shaped by his show to be a "temporary phase" that is now finished. Speaking to a leading newspaper for the series' quarter-century milestone, the 78-year-old claimed that he had been instructed to “dumb down” his screenplays in meetings with executives and warned against producing TV content that was too complex.

He attributed that view in partly to his encounter attempting to develop a show with the screenwriter Hannah Fidell about a luxury escort who finds herself in witness protection. In numerous meetings with producers, he said, they were told “the unfortunate truth” that it was too complex. "What audience is this targeting?" he said. “I guess the stockholders?”

“We seem to be confused and audiences can’t keep their minds on things, so we can’t make anything that makes too much sense, takes our attention and requires an audience to focus,” he continued. "Regarding streaming leaders? The situation is deteriorating. We are reverting to previous conditions."